The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts between England and France that began in 1337 and ended in 1453. It was a dynastic struggle that began when Edward III of England asserted that, as the son of Isabella of France who was herself the daughter of Philip IV of France, he was the rightful claimant to the French throne. The war is typically divided into three phases. The first was the Edwardian War (1337-1360), which was comprised of several English invasions of France and also contained two of the three great English victories of the war, the Battles of Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). The phase ended with the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360. The second phase is known as the Caroline War (1369-1389), so-named because it saw Charles V of France reversing most of losses of the Edwardian phase. The phase ended with the Treaty of Leulinghem in 1389. The final phase was the Lancastrian War (1415-1453), which began with Henry V of England’s invasion of northern France, leading to the last of the three great English victories at Agincourt. During this phase the English overran most of Northern France, including Paris, in addition to their territory in Aquitaine and saw Henry VI actually crowned King of France, though this was of course disputed by the French. Later in the phase, the French recovered while the English war effort stagnated. Slowly the French regained the lost territory and more, as they reclaimed Gascony for the first time in generations. By the end of the war, the port of Calais was the last English territory on the Continent.

The Wars of the Roses was a series of civil wars in England. Like the Hundred Years War, this was not a single, extended conflict but rather period from 1455 until about 1487 in which there were sporadic outbreaks of open war. The wars were fought between two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster, whose symbol was a red rose, hence the name ‘Wars of the Roses’. Richard of York challenged the rule of Henry VI, who suffered mental infirmity and whose rule had always been relatively weak. The Duke of York was descendent, through both his father and mother, from two sons of Edward III, whereas Henry VI was descendent from Edward’s second son only. The Duke of York was killed in battle in 1460, but his claim passed to his eldest son Edward, who took the throne in 1461 and reigned as Edward IV until 1483, though there was an interruption when a Lancastrian uprising saw Henry VI briefly reinstalled from 1470-71. Upon Edward’s death, his son was deposed by Edward’s younger brother Richard, who became Richard III. Richard was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. His opponent was Henry Tudor, who was the son of Henry VI’s half brother (through his mother, Catherine of Valois). Tudor became Henry VII of England, thereby ending the Wars of the Roses.